Destroyers
by RenzokukenofCerberus
Summary: My incarnation of the FFX storyline, begins with the end of Braska's journey. My own take on certain storyline holes, New characters are introduced and new outcomes for the original cast. R&R plz. Ch.4 is up! Eventual Tikku and new pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Noble Journeyman

As Auron, Jecht and Braska continue down the great Mount Gagazet towards the lost city of Zanarkand they all begin reflecting on their lives, and how this arduous journey is nearly at an end. Pausing for a moment Jecht drops to his left knee and looks down at the snow and begins tracing the image of a Blitzball in the snow.

" When we're done with this, I'm going to start a Blitzball team in memory of you Braska... no in memory of us all. If you have to die to beat sin then I'll make sure to train our blitzers to fight as one and if they lose, to go down fighting." Auron glances over his shoulder and smirks, " I would love to see you teach someone how to blitz. I give you five minutes and then you'll get frustrated with them and Jecht Shot your sword at one of their heads." Braska can't help but laugh because that seems very much like something Jecht would do as he stops and looks down at the ground and smiles, " Fine... but I want my team to be from Zanarkand... I want them to be as talented and as mind blowing as you say your Abes were. But don't name them the Abes... makes me imagine an old man in a really awkwardly tall hat."

Jecht grins as he shakes his head, " Then what should I call the team?" Auron glances over at Braska and then back to Jecht as he thinks for a moment. " Well, Sin destroys everything... including the person who defeats him. So I think the Zanarkand Destroyers has a very nice ring to it." Jecht jumps up and snaps his fingers with a huge smile on his face, " I love that! Can't wait to get that team going! Let's hurry up and get the final Aeon and beat the hell out of Sin!"

With that the three friends continue down the ancient mountain and casually stroll into the undead city of Zanarkand. Looking around Jecht starts pointing out where things used to be, " See this used to be the giant Blitz dome, I can still hear the roar of the crowd screaming for me to do my Jecht Shot Mark Three." Auron quirks a brow and looks over at his friend, " Mark three? So you're trying to tell me there are two other incarnations of that thing?" Jecht just laughs and smiles, " No, but if the fans thought there was then they'd always show up for the chance to see those. It was a good way to entice a crowd my friend." Auron rolls his eyes and smirks, " Leave it to you to figure out a way to deceive thousands of people yet also become their hero." Jecht just shrugs and smiles as the pyreflies slowly begin taking him back, showing the ghostly images of the fans shout for Jecht and the giant Blitz sphere in the middle.

Braska's eyes widen as he smiles, " So this is what Zanarkand used to be like, so full of life... so large that it makes Luca and Bevelle look miniscule in comparison. I envy you Jecht, this was your life and it seems like it was astounding." Jecht smiles as he looks at his friend, " Hey man, don't worry... I'll make sure to bring our first Cup trophy to the Farplane for you to see." Braska nods, " I appreciate that my friend."

Just then a ghostly apparition appears before them, and before Jecht can attack it Auron holds out his right arm to restrain Jecht, " That is Lord Zaon Jecht... the original aeon, and I would guess that since he became an Aeon he was technically never sent. So his spirit stays here..." Jecht glances over at Auron quickly still readying himself to attack if he needs to but throws a question to him anyway, " Auron, you told me if people aren't sent they become fiends. Why is he not a fiend?" Braska decides to field that question himself, " Because Jecht, this you see before you is not solely his spirit. Since there are as many pyreflies here as in the Farplane, this could be a combination of a memory and of his spirit. So he very well shouldn't be hostile... but be on guard just in case."

Zaon looks at the summoner party and he grins, " You are here for your final aeon are you not?" Braska nods slowly and tilts his head questioningly, " That we are... are you here to stop us?" Zaon gradually shifts his gaze along the three of them, almost as if he were sizing them up and then looks back to Braska, " Only if you wish me to. I am here to direct you to the cloister of trials. So if you don't mind, you may follow me... or you can attack and possibly not make it to the cloister all together. The choice is yours summoner party."

Jecht glares at Zaon and looks like he's about ready to knock the smug look off the dead man's face until Braska bows to Zaon, " We wish to battle Sin, not you Lord Zaon... so if it pleases you, you may lead us to the cloister now." Auron lowers his arm from being in front of Jecht and slowly follows suit in falling in line behind the ghostlike figure of the former hero. While Jecht on the other hand just grits his teeth and kicks at the dirt a little frustrated that they are being led around by the hand like children, but eventually swallows his pride and catches up with his friends.

So after wandering along the decrepit halls of the ghost city and battling a few fiends on the way they eventually make it to the cloister. Zaon stops them before entering and looks up at the sky through a hole in the ceiling, " You are nearly finished with your journey... may luck guide your feet and logic be in your hearts. Until we meet in the next life..." With that Zaon disappears and the three stand at the entrance of the cloister with their palms sweating as Auron turns to activate a Save Sphere.

Braska looks down at his summoner's staff and smiles, " This is for Yuna... even if it isn't forever... I'd like her to grow up without fear of being attacked by Sin." Jecht looks over and rubs his shoulder a little as he starts to stretch his muscles, " Hey don't you worry about her Braska, Auron and I will take good care of little Yuna. I just hope my boy can make it through life without developing more of a complex then he already has. And my wife... I hope she's alright." Auron turns to the both of them and smiles halfheartedly, " Jecht, I'm sure they're fine... cause whatever world you are from there really is no Sin. So they are blessed to be able to live without fear... and Braska, just as Jecht said, we will protect Yuna as though she was our own when this is all over. She will be the happiest girl on Spira." Braska laughs a little but he finally looks up towards the cloister to face his challenge.

" Thank you... both of you. Now let's get going before Zaon decides to come back and attack us because we delayed too long." The group shares a fleeting laugh as they brace themselves for what lies ahead and unhurriedly walk into the cloister of trials to face whatever puzzles this one may be.

So as the group goes through the puzzles and light up the final piece in the last room they all breath a sigh of relief, " Well now... here we go. Time to acquire the Final Aeon and-" Before Braska can finish his statement a huge flying monster hovers up from the pit in the middle of the room as Auron smirks and unsheathes his katana, " The Aeon's protector... the true final test I suppose..."

As the monster encounters them, they realize as the battle begins that they are each on a different podium and it will be difficult to work together. Seeing this Jecht just grins and pulls out his sword and a blitzball, " You know what we're gonna do boys? We're gonna play a little ball with this guy, I hope he knows how to blitz." Auron raises a brow, yet before he can question the idea Jecht throws the ball up in the air and gives it a swift kick and the ball ricochets off the monster's head causing it to turn sharply at Jecht.

" Heh, looks like I got the ugly beast's attention." The creature swings its scythe like claws at Jecht and he manages to dodge it, but just barely as he notices the blitzball heading back towards them. " Ahh here we go now, just as I planned…" The ball comes crashing back into the creature's head but this time the angle was from an empty podium causing the thing to make a wild strike towards absolutely nothing out of anger. But after hitting the monster in the head the ball bounces wrong and comes flying towards Auron. Reacting quickly he hits it with the flat side of his sword and sends it screaming back towards the creature. Auron smirks and twirls his katana smugly, " I see what you did, get the creature so distracted by the ball that it will leave itself open for a full out attack. Pretty clever, I must say."

Jecht poses a little accepting the praise as he sees the creature really start to lose it's cool and begin thrashing about. Taking that as a good indicator to finish it, they all activate their overdrives, Jecht goes first, followed by Auron and then lastly Braska, " Time to acquire the final aeon… Bahamut! I summon you, finish this beast!" With that, Bahamut comes flying down from the heavens and fires off a very quick and very powerful Mega Flare that reduces the protector down to nothing more than ash.

As the Aeon from Bevelle gets dismissed the three men then walk onto the canter platform and begin to descend into the depths of Zanarkand. " To think, this used to be a stadium… now it's some nestin ground for ugly overpowered freak fiends." Jecht says with obvious disdain as he re-sheathes his weapon and their grim fate becomes exponentially more imminent.

After they reach the bottom they all walk out towards what seems to be the Chamber of the Fayth… yet they can feel no life emanating from it. Braska just stands there for a moment looking down at the empty Fayth, " What? Is this some sort of bad joke? Zanarkand is the holy land, the place of the final Aeon and precursor to the Final Summoning. Why on Spira is the Fayth empty?" As soon as the question passes his lips the door on the other side of the room opens wide to reveal Lady Yunalesca, " Come through here and I shall explain everything to you…"

Braska gazes wide eyed towards where she stood and looks over at Auron, " Was that Lady Yunalesca?" Auron, just as dumbfounded as Braska shrugs and responds hesitantly, " First Bevelle's Cloister of Trials is run primarily by machina, then we run into Lord Zaon, now there is no Fayth for the Final Summoning… and on top of all of this, Lady Yunalesca beckons for us to come to her." Jecht just shrugs and heads towards the door, " Hey I don't care if she's supposed to be dead, or if your religion is based in mire of hypocrisy… she has answers, and that's all that matters to me."

So Jecht continues walking through the doorway as Auron and Braska just exchange looks, " For the well being of Spira… we shall see this through Auron." Auron nods and stands next to Braska, " And we shall do it together… with or without our faith in Yevon, Sin will be defeated." So after talking themselves into it, they finally walk through the door and stop next to Jecht as the notice Yunalesca and Zaon standing side-by-side, cold eyes piercing through their souls.

" So you were gonna tell us what this is all about right? The you both being dead, the lack of a Fayth and everything." Yunalesca smiles at Jecht's brash way of putting things and nods, " But of course, Zanarkand is the land of the dead. You may refer to it as a holy land, when in actuality it is more of a giant contradiction to all things Yevon. The pilgrimage was designed not to judge those with the most religious faith… but to judge those with the most resolve in bringing a momentary end to Sin's reign of terror."

Auron grits his teeth and interrupts the ancient ghost, " So you are telling me, that everything we learned through Yevon's teachings… are lies? Machina, sendings, Sin being comprised of our past sins for using machina… Zanarkand's demise… all lies?" Zaon looks at Auron and nods, " Yes, a summoner is a beacon of hope for Spira, their guardians are to ensure that they make it here. Your faith is broken is it not? But how does your determination fair, Auron?" Auron's fists are clenching in rage as he learns his life has been a giant lie, everything he believed in is now crushed and there is nothing he can really do to change it.

Before this continues any further Braska gets to the point, " The Final Summoning can only be preformed with a Fayth and a Final Aeon… where is it kept?" Jecht glances back to Braska smiling as he knows he's trying to remain on the course and then looks back up to Yunalesca awaiting an answer.

" In front of you summoner. The Final Fayth and Aeon alike are one of your guardians. The people you trusted with your life are also the ones who shall save Spira a few years of sadness." Jecht looks at the ground and before anything else can happen, Auron speaks up, " So what then? Not only does the summoner die, but also does one of the guardians? What is the point of that?" Zaon shakes his head, " Foolish mortal… the guardian does not die… the Final Aeon becomes Sin. Hence why Sin is ever lasting, and Calms come and go. Sin never dies, and never shall… so is the desire of Yevon."

Auron unsheathes his katana and starts slamming it into objects in the room, " NO! I won't stand for this! I won't allow Braska to die in vein!" Braska looks down at his feet and then up at Yunalesca, " Is there truly no other way? Cause my own life I don't mind giving up… but sacrificing one of my friends just so that they become Sin years from now was not part of my agenda." Zaon glares at Braska, " There IS NO other way. If you choose not to do this, Sin's terror shall continue… and unfortunately since you know too much… you will be disposed of."

" I'll do it, I ain't got nothing to lose. My family is in a world that doesn't exist and can't be reached from here… and if someone needs to go, might as well be me." Auron looks at Jecht and screams, " NO! Jecht, this is suicide! You can't do this! Do you want to be responsible for millions of deaths?" Jecht smiles and glances back at Auron, " Stay alive, and maybe you can help lead another summoner to put me out of my misery Auron." Braska walks up to Auron and places his hand on his shoulder, " It's alright Auron… I know how you must feel. But it is my duty as a summoner to protect Spira." With that Braska then walks over to Jecht and smiles as he places his head on Jecht's shoulder, " Thank you very much Jecht. But what will happen with your Blitzball team?" Jecht grins and rubs the back of his neck, " Hey Sin is all powerful and what not right? I'll figure something out."

So with that Yunalesca goes through the ritual of turning Jecht into an Aeon as Braska kneels down to receive the Aeon's power and Auron is seething off in the corner with his head rested on the hilt of his katana as he mutters, " This is ludicrous, why must this happen, why is there no other way. Jecht… Braska… if it is the last thing I do… I will find a way to end this senseless killing. Goodbye Jecht… goodbye Braska… my… friends"

Subsequently, Braska and Auron head to the Calm Lands to call out Sin and bring the next Calm. Auron just stands there halfheartedly waiting for this travesty to finally end, as Sin approaches and Braska summons Jecht. As he looks upon the Aeon form of his friend, Auron begins contemplating running back into Zanarkand and taking out Zaon and Yunalesca once and for all. Knowing Auron fairly well, Jecht believes he may do something foolish once this whole matter is over. So as Jecht winds up for his overdrive he figures out a plan and as he executes his overdrive, he makes sure to pull Auron into the void that is created once Sin dies.

" Now Auron you big idiot, I'm gonna send you to my Zanarkand. You need to do some scouting for me for my Destroyers. And while you're there, keep and eye on my kid… he's such a crybaby." With that Auron wakes up in a boathouse and looking at a small child with blonde hair and a very attractive brunette woman. " Jecht's family…?"

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Within the Lost World

The brunette woman's eyes light up hearing her husband's name, " You know my husband Jecht? Is he alright?" Auron looks at her and then glances to the child before replying, " In a sense... Jecht is not dead. But I regret to inform you that he has no way out of where we used to be." Little Tidus stares up at the bewildered monk and speaks, " Then how did YOU get here?"

Auron smirks and sits up straight hanging his legs over the edge of the bed beginning to address the child's question, " Well you must be Tidus, Jecht always talked about you a lot, and it's more than obvious after metting you that some of his brashness rubbed off on you." Tidus just grimaces and looks away, " I'm not like him..." Auron smiles and faces Jecht's wife, " So this is Zanarkand right? I think I will walk around for a while. Should I find myself to an Inn while I'm walking around town?" Jecht's wife shakes her head and smiles brightly, " Of course not, you are more than welcome here. Not to mention I would love for you to tell me stories of my husband, where you were, and what you both did because taken from your accessories and a few wounds that are still healing, it seems like weren't just another one of his blitzing friends."

Auron stands up ties his red coat around his waist and wedges his katana between the coat and his waist while just pushing his jar underneath the bed cause it seems as though the belt attached to his sheath and jar snapped at some point. So after stretching a little Auron walks up to Tidus and places his hand on the child's shoulder, " Can you show me where the Blitzball stadium is Tidus?" Tidus looks up over his shoulder and shrugs, " Sure I guess I can... I don't really like Blitzball though." As they begin walking Auron smirks thinking he knows why, " Is it because you don't like your father so you dislike anything he liked?" Tidus nods, " Plus he never really paid attention to me... he was always going off to Blitz, or drink or show off for his fans. I hate him so much..."

As soon as the get outside of Tidus' house Auron stops the child and bends a knee so he is at eye level with the kid, " But wouldn't you like to be better than your father? He always wanted you to become a blitzer... he just thought you were too scrawny." Tidus narrows his eyes and shouts; " I'm better than most kids my age!" Auron raises a brow and smirks, " I thought you didn't play?" Tidus glances away and mumbles a little under his breath before he finally refers to the question, " Well, I hate him... and I hate what he did for the game... but you're right, I'll be bigger than he ever was!"

-10 years later-

A now much taller and more mature Tidus stretches in his room to get ready for the big championship game between his Zanarkand Abes and the Luckies. After finishing his little warm ups he walks into the kitchen and gives his mother a hug, " Hey mom, so what do you think the score'll be?" Tidus' mother just rolls her eyes and shakes her head, " I'd like this one to be close sweetheart. This is the finals, they're supposed to be talented too son. So I'd like to see it be about 4 - 1, that work for you sweety?" Tidus shrugs, " I guess so... I just hope dad can be there." Tidus' mom smiles as she looks off to the living room, " He's in the other room watching TV, he's been paying a lot of attention to the Blitz games this year." Tidus nods and smiles, " I know... but ya know he always has time for us, and he helped the Abes scout some pretty good players." From the living room Tidus hears his step father's voice, " Hurry up kid, you're gonna be late for the game in you stay in there and keep talking to your mother." With that Auron walks into the kitchen and gives his wife a kiss and looks at his stepson, " I hope your ready for what's in store for you today. Machete is the Luckies' captain and lead scorer, that guy is probably the only Blitzer that can go toe to toe with you."

Tidus rolls his eyes, " Come on, I'll swim circles around the chump. He's got nothin on me." Auron laughs and looks at the steps as a little girl comes walking down the steps, " Sheril... what are you doing awake?" The eight-year-old smiles and pulls a Zanarkand Abes hat out from behind her back along with a shirt with Tidus' face on it, " I wanna go cheer for big brother!"

The happy family just stands there smiling as they decide they should all get going to watch the game. The little girl jumps in the air grinning from ear to ear, " Big brother is gonna make those Luckies UnLuckies!" Auron smiles and Tidus just shakes his head, " You big dork... that was funny... but you should really leave the banter to us pros." Auron looks over at Tidus and smirks, " You're going to use that one... I know you will, cause you're a bigger dork than your sister." Tidus just sighs and then laughs full well knowing he was going to use that insult at some point during the game.

So after the pre-game joking and all around fun is over Auron, Tidus' mom and Sheril take their seats in the stands. Sheril is decked out in her Tidus t-shirt and Abes hat, Tidus' mother wearing a Zanarkand Abes t-shirt with blue and yellow paint on her face and even Auron got into the spirit by taking off his long sleeved red coat and putting on a bright yellow sports jacket that says " Go Abes" on the back of it. Getting a look at his family from a window in the locker room before the game begins Tidus laughing to himself at all of them, especially Auron who is usually very serious, walking around in something like that.

Tidus finishes tying his shoes and walks out into the hallway just to run into a cocky and smirking man. He stands about 6'4", short brown hair, green eyes and a bit of a goatee on his face as he starts talking, " So Tidus, you think your Abes are going to win do you? We'll see about that you big wimp... I can't wait to body check you through the sphere and right into Auron's lap." The sly grin does nothing more then piss off Tidus as he snaps back, " OH YA! Well you smartass I'll make sure to wipe the sphere with your team myself. They'll have to change your name from the Luckies to the UnLuckies." The man just grins and cocks his head to the side, " Did your little sister come up with that one Tidus? Because it sounds even dumber than what I would expect from you." Tidus grits his teeth, " Shove it Machete... no one asked your opinion about my insults. Now I will see you in the sphere you jackass." With that Tidus walks off towards the sphere as Machete just stands there grinning, " Yes Tidus...yes you will." As Machete then waltzes off towards the sphere he starts singing, " Go now if you want it..."

So moments later the two teams are facing off in the sphere, Tidus the Captain of the Abes and Machete the Captain of the Luckies take their positions in the center of the sphere pool for the blitz off. Machete just grins at his blonde counterpart and then looks up awaiting the horn while Tidus seems oddly focused never glancing at Machete, just waiting to get the ball and score quickly to take the wind out of the Machete's sails.

The horn sounds shortly after they get into position and the two men jump up quickly with the initial blitz off being recovered by Machete. He quickly passes it off to the left wing Nicholai and he then swims down towards the goalie. Tidus manages to catch up to Nicholai and goes to tackle him but Nicholai manages to dodge most of it and throw the ball towards Machete. Realizing he's out of position to stop this Tidus gets pissed off and just hopes that the goalie can stop the shot. While during Tidus' mistake Machete swims up towards the ball and tumbles forward and hits the ball with the heel of his foot sending it blazing through the water, past the defenders and into the top left corner of the net. Machete just grins and poses a little after his fabulous shot while Tidus just curses him out under his breath and heads back to the center for the next blitz off.

The game continues to go the Luckies' way for the most part, no one else scores for the entire first half of the game, and the second half continues to be a great defensive showing from the Luckies as the score stays 1 - 0 in favor of Machete's Luckies. With time winding down Tidus finally gets exasperated with losing and sees Nicholai with the ball again and this time, Tidus doesn't miss. Tidus hits Nicholai so hard he goes flying out of the sphere pool and he snatches the blitzball and pulls off a really fast sphere shot that squeezes by the Luckies goalie and ties the game at one.

Nicholai limps back into the sphere pool as the next blitz off happens and Machete tosses it over to a defender attempting to run down the time for either last second heroics or overtime. Tidus on the other hand anticipated Machete to pass it, so he intercepts the pass and as soon as he catches it he throws the ball up out of the sphere pool trying to end the game in an Abes victory and of course in flashy style. But just as the ball gets tossed up towards the sky Auron notices Sin off in the distance and he removes his Abes jacket and places his red coat back over his shoulders and situates his katana and his jar. " Sheril... why don't you and mommy go to the store and buy a cake to celebrate the Abes victory." The little girl looks up at her father with big curious eyes, " Why daddy? I want to watch the ball go in for the win." Auron doesn't know how to explain the situation to a child who has never seen a fiend in her life so out of desperation he just glances over to his wife... Jecht's ex-wife... and looks at her with a sense of urgency hoping she takes the subtle hint.

Thank the heavens that Jecht picked a smart one, cause as soon as he looks at her she bends down and takes Sheril's hand quickly and smiles, " Just think... if we get him a cake he can describe it to you afterwards... and maybe if your lucky he'll blitz with you to show you exactly how he did it." The little girl smiles and her eyes light up, " REALLY? You think he'd play Blitzball with me? OKAY! I wanna get a chocolate carrot cake shaped like a blitzball... is that okay?" Auron nods and smiles," That's wonderful... now get going... I love you both very much." With that Auron gives his daughter a kiss on her forehead and kisses his wife on the lips. " Bye bye, see you later." Auron manages to choke out as he waves goodbye to his wife and daughter as he looks out to the horizon, " Jecht has returned home... I kept your family safe and together just like you wanted me to my friend..." Auron then starts looks towards the horizon slowly begins walking down the steps to avoid the better portion of the forthcoming destruction and to help guide Tidus to a safer area.

The ball then breaks the top of the sphere pool with Tidus followed closely afterward. As he begins his back flip to bring his feet down towards the ball he sees a creature in the distance fire off a bright blue crescent shaped wave of energy causing the young blitz star to falter and reach out hoping to grab on to something hanging off of the stadium.

Tidus lunges and manages to grab onto a ledge by his fingertips. But just as he does, more energy waves are shot at the stadium and pieces begin flying everywhere and a piece of scaffolding comes down and breaks off the ledge Tidus was holding on to and he begins to plummet.

The young star hits the ground and blacks out momentarily until Auron's familiar voice jars him back into consciousness. " Hey kid, come on… you don't want to die laying on your back do you?" The blonde boy stumbles to his feet and looks around, " The stadium is rubble… Auron, what is going on?" Auron laughs a little and hands the boy a sword, " A gift from Jecht." Tidus looks at the sword and then back at Auron, " From my old man? Tell me Auron… what the hell is going on?"

Tidus slowly takes the sword still unsure of anything at the moment as Auron looks off into the distance and answers, " This is Sin, what Jecht, Braska and myself defeated ten years ago. It has returned… and it calls to us Tidus. We must go…" Tidus still confused as to how you can defeat something but it still exists but he nods regardless and follows Auron away from the stadium.

" Where is my mother and Sheril dad?" Auron continues walking as he replies, " They're find… but we won't be seeing them ever again." Tidus unsure of how to respond to that doesn't even get a chance to attempt as they bump into Machete and Nicholai. Machete still wearing his blitz uniform but now brandishing a halberd along with his smug grin and Nicholai also still adorned in his blitz uniform but with a pistol in each hand.

" So they call it Sin do they Auron? Well that is easily the largest fiend I have ever laid eyes on… you fought one of them before?" Auron gazes at the two blitzers turned soldiers and just smirks, " Yes, it is the biggest fiend there is… and it would be ill advised to try and attack it." Just as Auron says that, Sin launches a sin spawn pod out onto the walkway and small bug like creatures begin to scatter and surround the four warriors.

" I hope you can use that sword more accurately then you tackle Tidus." Nicholai quips as he spins around taking one out with every shot. Tidus just grits his teeth and charges the bugs, " Ya watch this Nicholai!" Tidus rushes into a swarm of the bugs and without stopping he spins his entire body and his sword around taking out about a dozen of them in one rather large swoop. " See, how was that one Nicholai?" Tidus says with a cocky smirk on his face, but instead of a reply from Nicholai he gets one from Auron, " Don't waste your energy on the insignificant ones! Just attack the ones in our way and we'll mow through them!"

The other two just chuckle at Tidus' idiocy as they all start working together making their way to the original pod that suddenly springs tentacles out of it's sides and begins attacking them all. "Well this is a little unexpected…" Machete says in a rather bland and almost amused sort of way as Auron just smiles, " This is nothing… just guard against the little ones and dodge the tentacles."

Under Auron's direction the four warriors manage to take out the pod by getting a nearby crane to explode and take out the section of the walkway where the pod was, in turn causing it to fall down to it's demise.

As the group watches the creature fall to it's death the void to the other world begins to swirl as they all glance up and notice this can't be good. Tidus is the first one to start freaking out, " WHAT THE HELL IS THAT AURON?" Auron smiles and looks at the three boys standing before him, " That is our gateway… Sin has opened it for us… and I think it's time we crossed the threshold." Machete just grins and rests the halberd on his shoulder, " Well this should be interesting, and Auron people say you're not from here so we're going to your world now right?" Auron nods and then Nicholai asks, " Do they have Blitzball where you come from?" Auron grins, " Blitzball is what Spira thrives on." Machete and Nicholai both exchange glances as they say at the same time, " I'm in."

Tidus on the other hand is still as reluctant as ever but Auron makes up his mind for him, " If you ever want to find out what happened to Jecht… you will come with us." Tidus looks up really quick at Auron as his head begins to nod slowly just as his head is nodding the void sucks all four of them up and spits them back out somewhere in Spira.

When Tidus starts coming to, he finds himself aboard a boat and the first thing he sees is Machete, "Morning sleeping stupid." Before Tidus can say anything in response he notices a cute little blonde girl, with a nice figure and the most beautiful green eyes he's ever seen. The girl notices that he has come to and walks over closer allowing him a better view of her beauty, but instead of being cordial she seems more formal, " Rammu pmuhta puo, E ruba oui lyh cfes."

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: And so it Begins

Tidus blinks his eyes a few times and gazes at the cute blonde girl with the green swirly eyes, " Umm... can you repeat that?" The girl raises a brow and puts her hands on her hips and says, " Yna oui tahca? Tunh'd oui cbayg Al Behd?" Tidus' eyes widen as he smiles, " HEY! I think that was an insult about us! What's all this 'we' stuff girl?" The girl shakes her head and mumbles, " Cdibet pmuhta puo..."

Tidus still not understanding this crazy moon man language she's speaking has this blank look on his face. " Umm... my name is Tidus, I like Blitzball and turkey sandwiches... what's your name?" Machete just shakes his head and mumbles to himself, " Even though there's a language barrier he's still trying to hit on her. God he's hopeless..."

The girl smiles and cocks her head to the side, " My name's Rikku... and Al Behd is a type of people, and a language... you know, that thing I'm speaking and it also happens to be what I am." Tidus motions his head up and down but the blank expression on his face still proves he doesn't really know but then realizes she said that in English, " I understood that! You do speak my language!" Rikku nods and points over to Machete, " We found you two guys washed up near some ancient city, so we decided to pick you both up and see if you were dead. When we gathered that you were alive, we figured to keep you around and see if you can be useful."

Tidus not really paying attention just nods his head and smiles because she's really cute, " Ya sure, whatever you say." Rikku looks at him funny realizing he might not be paying attention, yet before she can continue Machete chimes in, " We play Blitzball, so we can swim, lift or whatever you want us to do. The sky's the limit..." Rikku glances over at the one that sounds more intelligent, " And what's your name?"

"The name's Machete, I'm more than willing to help you guys out if you please explain where in the blue hell we happen to be. Myself and my less then bright buddy over there happen to be from Zanarkand... have you heard of the place?" Rikku looks at Machete funny and then chuckles a little to herself; " You can't be from Zanarkand all the Yevonites say it's a holy city that hasn't been inhabited for nearly one thousand years." Machete looks away and tries to wrap his head around how it could be one thousand years since the blitz game.

Tidus, being naturally impulsive decides to spout at the mouth, " One thousand years? You must be kidding girl, I mean me and Machete were just playing a game before that big abomination came and attacked us. I play for the Zanarkand Abes and he plays for the Zanarkand Luckies, we just had a championship game." Rikku shakes her head and sits down between the two strangers and begins explaining, " According to those whole follow Yevon, Zanarkand was a large city filled with lights and machina before Sin came." Tidus decides to ask a question as soon as Rikku pauses, " What's ma-kee-na?" Rikku looks at him funny and smirks, " I guess Sin's toxin really does cause brain damage..." Machete smirks and can't help but comment, " Nope, that's just Tidus..."

Before an all out fight begins Rikku just giggles and decides to answer the machina question, " Machina, is machinery. According to Yevon it is evil and the reason that Sin came, because all humans did was goof around and let their machina do the work. So as a result of laziness, Sin was created to punish humanity... beginning with Zanarkand." Machete just looks out through the railings and peers into the water while Tidus just hits the deck with his hand, " No way! Zanarkand can't be gone... and this can't be one thousand years in the future..."

Before Rikku can comment or even continue the discussion, Brother walks through the doorway to the deck and calls for Rikku, " Mayja dras clis ymuha, drao yna bnupypmo Al Behd rydehk Yevonites yhofyo!" Rikku stands up quickly and hollers back, " Na-uh! Drao yna blitzers vnus Zanarkand! Drao tuh'd ajah ghuf fryd yh Al Behd ec silr macc Yevon."

Brother walks up to the group and smirks, " Lyh drao cfes?" Rikku puts her hands on her hips and rolls her eyes, " E cyet drao blitz teth'd E?" Brother grins and nods, " Keja dras pnaydrehk tajelac yht damm dras drao yna kuehk du ramb fedr uin aqlyjydeun."

Rikku nods a little disappointed that she won't be able to talk to them much more, " Oac Brother..." During the whole exchange Tidus inched closer to Machete and whispered, " Do you know what the hell they're saying?" Machete looks at Tidus like he's retarded and retorts, " Do I look like a master of linguistics or something? I'm just as lost as you are man..." As the two boys talk Rikku looks back at them and beams brightly, " Alright boys! We're putting you both to work!"

The two guys look at each other and just wonder what exactly it is that they could be doing. Rikku sees that they are a little confused and decides to shed some light on the subject, " See, you will be swimming down to a sunken ship with us, to help recover machina." Machete looks at her seems a little lost, " I thought you said machina were illegal... or unholy or something." Rikku shakes her head, " Not to us Al Behd... we think Yevon is a giant sham. We make it our job to find new machina and use as much as we can possibly get up and running."

Tidus nods and jumps up to his feet, " ALRIGHT! Into the water!" But before the energetic blitzer can jump off Machete grabs his arm and pulls him back to the ground, " Hi genius... we play blitz, we hold our breath. I think this might take a little longer than what we can hold our breath for." Tidus scratches the back of his head and grins, " Oh ya... that whole breathing thing." With that he looks over to the Al Behd girl and asks, " Hey Rikku, do you guys got some sort of machina to help us breath under water?"

Rikku smiles a little taken by the blonde boys idiocy, " Oac loda cdivv..." After realizing what she said Rikku blushed and then thanks the fact that she said it in Al Behd as Tidus just looks at her funny, " What?" Rikku smiles and holds out two little breathers and says, " Here you go, they obviously go in your mouth and as soon as you guys are ready we'll head down to the sunken ship."

Machete grabs one and looks at it while it's in his hand, " Well this is weird... first a huge fiend appears and now we're in some freaky world that's apparently one thousand years in the future." Tidus takes his and just smirks, " Hey, Auron has to know what he was doing... cause he seemed very familiar with all of this." Machete nods and stands up, " Well you ready dork?" Tidus grins and stands on the railing, " Of course... catch me if you can jackass!" Tidus places the device in his mouth and dives into the water.

" You dumb..." Machete stops himself as he places his breather in his mouth and jumps over the rail and dives into the water after Tidus. Seeing this Rikku can't help but laugh and motion to the other Al Behd on the deck, " Vummuf druca sunuhc..." After she places her breather in her mouth she jumps in and tries to catch up, not knowing what will happen, but taken from how these two act... it should be interesting."

So by the time Rikku hits the water she sees the two boys racing each other and get stopped suddenly by a bunch of piranha fish. And as they go to reach for their weapons they realize that those must have been seized when they got picked up.

So as the fish stare them down the boys just kind of look at the fish and chuckle uneasily not really knowing what exactly to do without weapons. But before they any fighting starts a grenade explodes in front of them and manages to kill off the bunch of fish. The guys look over quickly thinking it might be hostile until they see Rikku and wave at her overjoyed that she saved their butts. She can't help but grin as she catches up to them thinking to herself, ' Dumb boys... swimming off without their weapons...'

Once she reaches the two boys she hands them each their respective weapon, Tidus with his bronze sword and Machete with his halberd. So as they get their weapons back the men play around with them a little testing how fast they can strike under water, and as soon as they are satisfied with the results they sheath the weapons and start heading towards the sunken ship.

Cutting a path through a few random encounters with stupid fish they finally reach the sunken ship. After scanning the wreckage Machete and Tidus really don't see why the hell anyone would want most of this crap, but if machina is banned throughout most of the world…even crappy stuff must be better than nothing.

A few minutes later they manage to find the entrance and look around for how to open it up until Rikku moves over to a control panel and points to a bunch of buttons. Machete glances over at it and shrugs as Tidus swims over and rubs his chin looking at the controls.

Following numerous attempts at hitting buttons Tidus gets fed up and spins around landing a swift kick on the side of the damn thing… and what do you know, it opens. So in his moment of great achievement Tidus poses a little and dances around like a moron as Machete just shakes his head and Rikku starts giggling at his goofy way of celebrating.

Giving Tidus a few moments to gloat Machete finally gets sick of it and starts swimming forward. Shortly after Machete swam off the Al Behd girl decides to follow and Tidus finally catches wind that they are moving so he decides it's best to start following along.

As the three move along, Rikku stops in one of the rooms and begins playing around with one of the machines as Machete and Tidus just start looking around. Not really finding anything of interest they turn back to where Rikku is and see the young blonde girl wave at them and motion to get going. The boys nod, and while the three are trying to exit the ship a large squid-like creature swims towards them and begins to attack.

Suddenly, it violently swims towards Rikku and she barely dodges the attack, but it quickly redirects itself and takes a swing at Tidus. Completely taken off guard, Tidus gets hit very hard causing him to go flying back against the ship walls as his breather fall out of his mouth after impact and he begins to sink towards the bottom. Machete quickly pulls out his halberd and motions to Rikku to go assist Tidus as he'll take on the ugly thing.

Rikku's eyes widen and she looks worried and unsure of what to do, until she finally darts over to Tidus to try and save the pretty blonde boy from a watery grave. Seeing the girl leave the creature charges towards her until Machete swims in the same direction and hits the squid right in the head with a hard blitz style tackle.

The creature spins around and spews a few ink bullets towards Machete as he blocks one with his halberd and the other just misses his head by and inch. Machete just grins and waves the creature on to come attack him. With that little motion the squid begins to lose it's patience and swims forward flailing it's tentacles at Machete.

Going toe to toe with the creature ends up being much more difficult then he originally thought. Because as the creature comes forward, Machete manages to cut off the tip of one of it's tentacles but then quickly gets blind sided by another and then quickly wrapped up in it's tentacles and thrown to the side. Machete's skull bounces off the inner hull and he pulls the breather out momentarily to spit out some blood from his mouth as he slowly gets back up and refuse to go down. Slowly getting back up he places the device back in his mouth and continues taunting the creature.

As the battle rages on Rikku manages to grab Tidus by the shirt, but not being able to find his breather she needs to think on her feet. So she takes her breather out of her mouth and begins blowing the air into his mouth to try and revive the fallen blitzball player.

On her third attempt Tidus finally opens his eyes and almost as if it were an instinctive reaction he wraps his arms around Rikku and begins to kiss her deeply. Rikku not knowing what to do, but knowing she likes kissing him just goes along with it, all the while Machete is getting totaled in the background.

The creature wraps it's tentacle around Machete's throat and starts choking the life out of him as he begins to black out. Fighting to stay conscious Machete sees the two kissing and the scene seems to give him enough of a second wind to attempt something crazy.

In a last ditch effort to get something going his way, he clutches the halberd in his right hand and with the last of his strength he stabs the squid in the face, causing it to flip out in pain and fling him in the two lovebirds direction. So as the creature howls in pain Machete comes crashing into the two blonde teenagers. The impact breaks up the kiss and finally wakes up Tidus enough to remind him that they're under attack. So he quickly unsheathes his bronze sword and realizes he needs to fight.

Machete just glares at Rikku and throws his breather to her and points towards the thing almost to say; 'Now it's your turn'. Rikku nods and catches the breather and the two blondes go off to battle the squid as Machete lays against the wall a beaten and broken man. So as the others swim towards the monster it finally regains it's bearings and sees Machete against the wall.

As it charges the beaten warrior it doesn't notice Tidus and Rikku at all, so Rikku takes the time to detonate two grenades in front of it, while Tidus swims around it, beginning to carve it up. Now in a frantic state the creature extends all of it's tentacles and spins around knocking Tidus and Rikku backwards a few feet and splitting them up.

Seizing the opportunity the creature grabs Rikku around the waist and Tidus around the arm that he uses to wield his sword and lifts them both up in the air and slams them both into each other repeatedly. Off on the side Machete is teetering in and out of consciousness but manages to see the rather dire situation at hand. Machete grins and thinks to himself, 'What would they do without me…' and with that he hurls his halberd at the squid bladed end first.

Due to it being distracted with the other two the squid never saw the weapon coming and in a mere matter of seconds the halberd pierces through it's head and comes out the other side with it's brain dripping on the tip of the blade and the blade now lodged in the inner wall of the ship.

Machete smirks and does the blitzball sign for victory with his hands as he finally fades out of consciousness. Rikku and Tidus finally recover enough to gather themselves back up and notice Machete lying knocked out on the floor. The two panic and Tidus swims towards Machete to go pick him up while Rikku grabs his halberd and they make it out of their as fast as they possibly can.

After a few minutes they get back aboard the ship and Tidus begins pressing on Machete's chest hoping to get the water out of his lungs. As this is going on Brother walks onto the deck and grins, " Fryd's fnuhk Rikku, tet ouin blitzers ryja hu cay makc?" Rikku glares at her brother and screams back, " Fa fana yddylgat po y fiend! Ajah oui't pa paydah ib ev oui ryt du vekrd ed!" Brother just laughs and walks off towards a few others on the deck and starts discussing what they found down at the site.

Tidus gets frustrated and screams, " DAMMIT! He can't die, this is crap, and it's my fault he got hurt!" Rikku walks over slowly and looks at Tidus, " It's not your fault… I didn't think there would be fiends that strong down there." Tidus clenches his fist and slams it down, only problem is he forgot Machete was right there next to him and ends up punching him in the stomach causing Machete to cough up water and a little bit of blood.

" I see… so you kiss him, but I get abused? I don't think I like the Al Behd much anymore…" Rikku just looks down a little ashamed she didn't try to help the brunette boy as Tidus gives him a big hug, " DUDE! You're not dead! I'm totally happy!" Machete just grits his teeth and grumbles, " Let go of me you idiot, because of you I nearly got killed." Rikku still doesn't know what to say as Tidus just looks down and mumbles, " I'm sorry man… I choked. I mean who expected a huge god damned squid to be down there anyway?"

Machete stumbles to his feet and balances himself with the railing as he looks at the two blonde idiots, " You should always be ready… a freaking squid almost killed me. How embarrassing…" Rikku walks over to him slowly and hands him his halberd, " Y-you killed it… you know. Here's your weapon back…" Machete snatches the halberd and just glares at her, " Why don't you go back over there with your little boyfriend and leave me the hell alone."

Rikku's eyes get really wide and start to well up with tears as Tidus sticks up for her, " The kiss thing was an accident man! You can't use that against her." Machete's eyes turn red and he gives Tidus a look so nasty that if looks could kill, Tidus would have been dead yesterday, " No one broke the kiss up. The only thing that stopped you two brain damaged dizzy morons is the fact that my beaten body came flying into you both."

Right before Tidus can retort a scream of terror comes from one of the Al Behd on the ship, " Sin ec lusehk!" The three bickering fighters turn around and see that creature from Zanarkand off in the distance.

Machete just grins, " Sin… where am I going now?" Tidus stares out in the distance and looks over at Rikku, " What should we do?" Rikku, still crying uncontrollably just starts panicking, " It's too close! We're gonna die!"

Tidus goes to embrace the frightened Al Behd girl, but right before he can even touch her, the boat is hit and Machete and Tidus go spilling over the edge of the boat into the water, and into yet another wonderful trip, via the Sin express.

So after an undeterminable amount of time Tidus quickly springs up out of shallow water screaming, " Damn you Machete! Rikku, grab my hand!" After a second he realizes he's in the middle of nowhere and as he turns to check out the area, he gets hit in the face with a blitzball.

Tidus rubs his face and hears a voice off in the distance, " Ey man! Can you trow dat back?"

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Do Your Best!

As Tidus rubs his face he looks in front of him at a floating blitzball and smiles, " BLITZBALL!" Off in the distance the same man who asked for the ball back is waving his hand and hollering, " Yo, brudda... could ya pass dat back ta us?" Tidus smirks and tosses the ball up in the air and screams, " COMING BACK AT YOU!"

Shortly after his exclamation Tidus' foot comes around connecting with the ball causing it to go soaring back towards the island and well over where the men were standing. As the ball quickly passes over the talkative man's head he just laughs a little and waves Tidus forward to come to the island and talk.

Tidus smiles thinking to himself, 'Finally something I can affiliate with Zanarkand.' Mere moments later he hits the shore gets ambushed by five over excited island blitzers all shouting at him at the same time.

" WHOA MAN! Dat was an amazin kick!"

" Show me how ta do dat one, ya?"

"You on a team mon?"

As he does his best to try and address the questions he's being asked, the talkative red haired man comes walking through the crowd and his presence alone manages to quiet the others down. Once he is standing in front of Tidus the team simmers down and the man looks Tidus with a big smile on his face and speaks, " I'm Wakka, Captan of da Besaid Aurochs. You ain't no amateur are ya boy?" Tidus smiles and shakes his head quickly, " Nope, I was the star play of the Zanarkand Abes!"

A low murmur begins to generate as the Aurochs start grumbling about how he must be crazy while Wakka tries to figure this whole thing out, " Umm... did you hit your head or sumthin? Nobody lives in Zanarkand mon." Tidus laughs nervously and scratches his head, " I got umm, to close to Sin and his toxin..." Wakka's eyes widen as he nods his head and does the blitzball sign for victory, " Praise be to Yevon that you be alive mon."

Tidus nods and starts looking around until his stomach starts to growl and he grins, " Ha.. umm... long time floating in the middle of nowhere works up an appetite ya know?" Wakka smiles and nods, " Come back to da village wit me mon, I'll be cookin you up something good." Tidus' eyes light up as he nods quickly in a goofy overly excited sort of way, " AWESOME! Do you guys have turkey?"

Wakka looks at him funny and shrugs, " Maybe... I'm not really sure what you be callin turkey, so we gonna find out." Tidus grins stupidly as he starts looking around for the village, " So which way is it?" Wakka starts walking along the beach to a small path that that cuts past a little cliff side " Follow me brudda..."

Tidus follows hurriedly due to the promise of food but as they continue walking Wakka leads him to a dead end. " Hey Wakka... what's the deal?" Just as he gets that question out of his mouth Wakka pushes him into the water and dives in after Tidus' body made a nice big splash in the water.

" Wakka! What was that for?" Wakka just smiles foolishly and dunks Tidus' head under water, " I got a favor to ask ya." Tidus surfaces and keeps a little distance between Wakka and himself, " You want me to join your team, right?" Wakka sighs and nods, " Dere's a huge blitz tournament in Luca... ya might meet someone ya know if you go dere. And ya might as well play if ya can, so how abou it mon?" Tidus starts wading around in the water acting like he's contemplating it until he finally answers, " Sure, why not... I haven't blitzed in a while, be nice to see what you guys can do." With that Tidus grins and splashes water in Wakka's face and starts swimming away. Wakka smiles and then hollers right before he starts chasing him, " YA BETTER BE A FAST SWIMMER BRUDDA!"

So after playing around in the water a bit and taking out a few fish fiends they finally reach the beach and Tidus groans, " I really hate those little piranha things..." Wakka just laughs at him and starts walking, " Da village is dis way." He points up a slight incline and they start walking again to Tidus' dismay.

After a few minutes of walking they wind up at a little make shift shrine and Tidus decides to ask, " What the hell is this thing?" Wakka punches Tidus in the shoulder and gives him a look, " Dis is da Besaid shrine for safe travel. Dose people leavin da island pray for safe passage right here." Tidus yawns a little and shrugs, " What's Yevon anyway? I mean what did that guy do that's so damn special?"

Wakka looks at Tidus' eyes really fast and searches for the right words, " Okay, you're not a stinkin Al Behd... but you are just as clueless as one. Sin's toxin is really dat bad mon?" Tidus looks down embarrassed that he's so out of place, " Sorry..."

Now feeling bad Wakka places his hand on Tidus shoulder and explains, " Yevon is our god, it is said dat back in da day he was an elite summoner. And it was thanks to him, Lord Zaon and Lady Yunalesca that Sin was driven away from Zanarkand and stopped from continuing it's rampage. Ya, it got da best of Zanarkand... but dey saved da rest o'Spira... so Yevon is based aroun Sin, summonings and dose ancient stories dat only summoners dat make it to Zanarkand know if dey are true or not."

Tidus quirks a brow and seems very skeptical, " So it's just a bunch of stories and a thing that doesn't die?" Wakka shakes his head, " It's said that Sin will leave when we have fully atoned for our sins." Tidus nods and thinks for a second, " That whole machina deal right?"

Wakka nods and does the blitzball sign for victory, but since they aren't blitzing Tidus inquires, " Why do you keep doing that?" Wakka takes a step back and can't believe her forgot that, " Dat's da way we pray to Yevon, mon, your head really is like all messed up ain't it?"

Tidus laughs and waves his hand dismissively, " Of course I know that... I was just pulling your leg." Wakka laughs and puts him in a headlock, " Don't say stupid tings ya know? Dat can get ya in trouble if you say it to da wrong person." Tidus nods and they both decide it's best to stop messing around and continue towards the village.

It takes a while but the two men eventually make it to the village and as soon as Tidus walks in a bunch of people just stop and stare at him as Wakka just looks at them and smiles, " It's okay, he's... he's the newest member of da Besaid Aurochs!" One of the villagers walks up to them and smirks, " But is he any good at blitz mon?"

Always one to take the opportunity to gloat Tidus borrows a blitz ball from one of the little kids in the village and balances the ball on his nose, " Hey Wakka... I want you to hit this back at me..." After his statement Tidus bounces the ball up in the air, and begins to break dance a little, he keeps his hands on the ground while he twists his body around keeping the ball bouncing around and in between his legs as he pushes his body up with his arms and kicks the ball directly at Wakka. Seeing the ball heading directly for him, Wakka clenches his fist and punches the ball back to the energetic blonde boy as Tidus lands on his feet at the moment the ball starts coming right back at him.

And a split second before he kicks it he says, " HEY GUY! CATCH!" and with that Tidus swings his left leg around and makes direct contact with the blitzball, sending it screaming towards the loud mouth and hitting him square in the stomach causing him to double over in pain and curl up into the fetal position.

Tidus lets out a loud bellowing laugh as he walks up to the man and stands over him smirking, " So, do you think I can play?" The man just lies there whining in pain as Wakka just claps his hands, " Dat was an amazing shot... what do ya call it?" Tidus just shrugs and smiles, " Not sure, I just came up with it now. Seemed like a good way to show off, you know?" Tidus laughs a little as Wakka points over to his hut, " Dat's my place over yonder, you can walk around and get acquainted wit da village... I'll go start makin some food."

Tidus waves as Wakka goes off to cook while he just stands there for a moment taking in the sites, " Nice little place, it's no Zanarkand... but it'll do for now." As he starts to walk from hut to hut he thinks to himself, ' I'm the new player for the Besaid Aurochs? I guess that could be cool... Wakka seems like a nice guy.' So with that thought he walks into the Inn tent and looks at these two oddly dressed guys and raises a brow.

Almost as if he knew Tidus was gonna say something Gatta exclaims, " HEY! You're that new blitzball player? Heard you were really close to Sin." Tidus nods, " Ya I was on a ship when he attacked... this girl and an acquaintance of mine were on the ship... and I have no clue where they are." Luzzu smiles and does the little prayer stance thing, " Praise be to Yevon that you are alive and still able to perform such amazing blitz moves."

Tidus smiles never being one to shy away from compliments as he asks, " Hey, what do you guys do?" Luzzu grins and responds in a rather straight forward manner, " We're Crusaders... can't you tell?" Tidus scratches his chin, " Umm... crews of what?" Gatta looks awestruck as he can't help but speak, " WHAT! How can you not know who the Crusaders are?"

Tidus realizes he said something dumb again and laughs while scratching his cheek, " You see... Sin's toxin... things are all foggy like..." Gatta turns to Luzzu and inquires, " Is Sin's toxin really this bad sir?" Luzzu shrugs slightly before responding, " It does seem unusually bad... but tell him anyway."

Gatta grins and stands up straight and begins reciting the Crusader's Oath, " We Crusaders are Spira's last defense against Sin when summoner's fail. We are the knights of the common folk; we fight Sin with all that we are for pride, for loved ones and for Spira." Tidus yawns a little, " That's nice... Sin doesn't die though... so isn't it pointless?" Gatta is very taken aback by Tidus' brash answer, so as he searches for something to say Luzzu takes the question, " Perhaps it would be best for you to figure that out yourself blitzball player."

Tidus decides it's best for him to leave and stop slamming his foot down his throat. So he waves to the two men and walks off towards Wakka's hut.

When he walks through Wakka's doorway he lets out a very large yawn and looks at Wakka, " So when's the food gonna be ready?" Wakka smiles, " In a few brudda... why don't ya take a nap. I'll wake ya when the food is done." Tidus stretches and nods as he plops down on the cot and in no time he is out like a light.

The last thing he hears before finally falling asleep is;

" She's been in there for an entire day."

" So? If something was wrong er guardians woulda done sumthin."

" Do you want her to die?"

To be continued...


End file.
